Connecting laptop to desktop

[Hexhamlad]

**See Above**

 

 

Ok well i bought a new laptop awhile ago (before i went to uni), now i have came home for christmas i would like to use my laptop for the internet rather than the pc that is set up. This is mainly because it is a lot faster than my desktop the problem is my parents use the desktop all year round so i dont really wanna disconnect it all just for a couple of weeks.

 

I have two cables that i got from the IT guy at work, I thought i could use one of them for connecting to the net on my laptop through my desktop. I guess this would be through a network of some sort. I honestly dont have a clue how to go about it though, i would say my computer skills are decent but I'm very poor when it comes to certain harware. This is obviously an example of that weakness.

 

The cables i mentioned above are the same size as one i use to connect at uni ie- the cable fits into the same socket on my laptop. The problem is when i plug both in i dont get the usual promt, then when i unplug it doesnt alert me either. I reckon this is because the system is unaware of the cable. I would like to point out that from what i have seen my laptop and desktop only have ONE socket each that the cable will fit into. So i think i must be using the right socket right ?.

 

 

Anyway i feel a little silly because i don't know what kind of cable I have but as i mentioned it is the same type of cable that connects to my university network.

 

 

Thanks for taking the time to read my post, hopefully someone will have the time to advise me how to go about things.

 

[Fozzy Fozborne]

I'd be willing to take a guess that the cable you connect to your laptop looks like this:

 

 

That's called an Ethernet cable

 

To get internet on your family's PC and your laptop at the same time, you'll need something like This or This.

 

The first, wired-only router will allow you to connect your 2 PCs to the internet, but you have to be connected to the router to access the internet.

 

The second has wireless G. so you can connect your PC, wired, to the router and have your laptop wirelessly connected to the router, so you can effectively access the internet from anywhere in your home. (You obviously need a wireless card in your laptop to get wireless internet, if you don't have a card, you can still wire it to the router.)

 

The setup of either is pretty easy.

 

Option 1: *internet* -> modem -> router -> Laptop and Desktop

Option 2: *internet* -> modem -> router -> Desktop and the Laptop wirelessly

 

I hope that helped!

 

[Tornado Rex]

Alternately, if you're trying to do what I think you are (just plug the Ethernet cable from your laptop into the desktop) for networking the computers, you could use a Crossover Cable or adapter. That way you don't have to dilly with a router that it seems like you don't even really need.

 

Note that if the desktop uses it's ethernet port to connect to the internet, you'll need a second network card in the computer, or of course the router.

[Hexhamlad]

ok so what is the difference detween the cable that i have and the one i need. surely they must be the same size because of the socket.

 

 

 

[Tornado Rex]

Read the link I posted.

 

Basically, the wires inside the cable are flipped around.